Interestingly, I find that using a combination of UA first, cheap P fares on AC, and a few upgrades on a Latitude Europe pass, confirmed before yesterday's deadline, I will very likely spend significantly less to renew SE status this year compared with last. All in front except for a couple of short flights on LH and one short range NA for which I bought flex when the J cabin was already full. My yield so far is less than 20 cents/Q mile on over 60 k miles already bought. With all flights either in P or confirmed R except from those mentioned above.

I also suspect that with the changes upgrades will be much more available. Already, my last two 17:10 FRA-YYZ had quite a few empty seats in front.

We may end up seeing more P inventory too, I suspect. So it seems, what Ac wants is a shift from Flex upgrades to P? For those of us who are able to do creative routings, it's actually good.

Plus, I'll save maybe $3000 or more on YQ on rewards.